For any of you who rely on public transit, I have this nugget of wisdom to share: “Thank God for the almighty iPod!” No, really. It has blocked out the casino junkie ramblings about “fools” and “horses” and profanities that may emit from his lips. Today, my life’s blood relied on Sunny Day Real Estate’s Diary and The Rising Tide. First, let me say: Sunny Day Real Estate is a poet’s band.

Some of you are probably nodding. Curious? Buy the actual album with the actual lyrics in the jacket. Even if you can sing every word by heart, do not hit play on your CD player (if it exists on vinyl and you own it–lucky you, and um, how did you pull that one off?!) Merely take a moment (or twenty) make your favorite cup of _______, find a comfy chair and clear your throat. Then, to your cat or dog or dad or son or the blank walls in your new apartment–I want you to read it aloud as if you were the featured poet at a reading in a big city.

After you’ve completed this task, tell me what you think.

As I listened to both albums on my cross-county, bus-hopping trek this morning I was inspired by a lot…the sun warming my skin, the fresh April air pushing out the smell of other’s unwashed hair and the kid that farted in the seat behind me…and I wrote an on-the-spot to do list which included seeing a friend of mine, Julie, who is in a band and lives in NYC. For whatever reason, Sunny Day Real Estate always makes me think of her. The list continued with small things to big dreams…

You might be thinking that this is a blog about the phenomenal 80s group The Cure. I have written blogs on their amazing-ness. It just so happens that while I was writing today, I was listening to The Cure radio station on my Pandora radio station when Queen feat. David Bowie “Under Pressure” came on. In the middle of my other writing tasks, I jumped up, looked for a cat to dance with (found neither) and did a soul dance that may have included a variation of the–um, I think some refer to it as “the corkscrew.”

There’s something about a song that grabs you and makes you completely subserviant to it; this is one such song for me. If you are a music fanatic like me, you might be interested to know what song was number one on the week of your birthday. Back before the Internet was as common as Charmin, my mom and I called in to find ours out. My American #1 was Olivia Newton John’s “Physical.” Dissappointed sigh. But my U.K. #1 was David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure.” Yay for the U.K.! Interestingly enough, as an infant, I had hydrocephalus which literally translates to “water on the brain.” So I really was under pressure.

Another survey study claimed that the song that was #1 on your 18th birthday was your life’s theme. Mine was Rob Thomas featuring Santana on “Smooth.” This would be the song that got Mom into Rob Thomas and subsequently, Matchbox 20. I had resistance to it at first…but the lyrics seem to ring true to my monogamy and belief in lasting love with no b.s.: “give me your heart, make it real or else forget about.” I could groove to that. Mom’s was The Beatles’ “Get Back.” Mom also graduated on her 18th birthday that year the song was breaking radio waves across the nation. The Beatles had been enormous for about five years to that time. Yet, it is interesting because Mom has spent her whole life chasing family, trying to “get back to where (she) once belonged.” She even moved back to where she was born. I hope that she finds her true home where happiness lies. I think that she is still searching.

As for me? Well, I did finally find someone who gave me his heart, made it real and we don’t have to forget about it. As for Queen and Bowie? I knew that I would belong in his world when his two sons simultaneously requested “Queen Jazz!” on a Sunday morning car ride. It’s funny how we can get so under pressure that we forget what makes our soul sing. I recommend that the next time you hear this tune you get a headstart on dumping all that pressure and stress out…be it at the grocery store or in your own kitchen…I say, put on your red shoes and dance the blues…